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A look back on the summer and autumn that was in the garden

Its fair to say that my new passion of cycling took priority over the summer with many hours in the saddle taking away time that would usually be spent in the garden. However, we still managed to grow a really good crop of tomatoes which started to ripen prior to Christmas and lasted all the way through to April. We also had good success with the chilies, capsicums, cucumbers and pumpkins. The raspberries also kept the kids entertained and they managed a couple of handfuls a day, with the second crop in March/April providing the best berries.

As we approach winter the focus will be to prepare the soil and do some more experimenting with the fruit trees to see if we can add some more variety.

Here are some pic’s of this years harvest…

We had a couple of handfuls of goji berries out of the 3 bushes that are now about 5 feet high! They tend to grow all over the place, so I built a small structure to tie the branches back to which helped to neaten the area up. I am hoping for a bigger crop next year.

The cherries did better this year, but still are a little slow to produce a decent crop. The trees are about 6 years old now, so I expect next year to be a bumper crop out of both varieties.

The pomegranate tree has suffered the last couple of years because I planted it too close to the massive gumtree out the front. I will need to move it over winter to give it a chance to put on some growth next year.

Definitely the success story of this season has been the chillies and capsicums with plenty for us and also the neighbours and extended family.

Another good year for the pumpkins all grown randomly from seeds out of the compost bin!

The cucumbers started really well and then got the powdery mildew which slowed then down towards the end of the season.

Beware when planting one of these! The elderberry tree takes over in a big way and even though the flowers are good in a tea, it isn’t much use for anything else. I am still digging out all the suckers that keep springing up after I pulled out the main plant.

Another slow year for the fig tree. I think it needs to be moved to a different location as well.

The first year that our blood plum tree has produced fruit and they were amazing!